MANSFIELD, La. -- DESRI and Cleco Power will break ground Friday on a solar power facility.

The ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. at the site of the Dolet Hills Solar Power Facility on Shamar Patrice Road south of Mansfield.

The companies say the 240-megawatt facility will be one of the largest solar developments in Louisiana.

Cleco Power and D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, known as DESRI, announced the project in 2022, saying the $250 million solar farm would be built near the site of the former Dolet Hills lignite plant east of Mansfield. The plant closed in December of that year, eliminating hundreds of jobs. Just last month, a company took down the remaining structures.

In a 2022 news release, Cleco Power said approximately 45,000 homes would be powered by the solar facility.

See Full Page